Break the Bag Habit

This is an example of a successful campaign in which Thames21 has played a part, as part of a coalition.

Those reading this are likely all too familiar with the perils of discarded plastic bags. Their colourful layers embed our river banks, while those that don’t float out to sea, posing a significant threat to marine wildlife. In the ocean, plastic bags can be mistaken for food and entangle and trap birds and animals.
While there is wide understanding about the dangers of littered plastic in the environment, our dependence on them appears to be increasing.

Thames21 successfully joined the call for a charge on single use carrier bags in England to reverse this trend.

During 2011, a total of 8 billion plastic bags were given out in the UK, that’s a 5.4% increase on the 7.6 billion bags given out in 2010

Plastic bags are usually made out of the non-biodegradable polyethylene, which is estimated to take between 450 and 1000 years to break down at sea. Polyethylene never completely bio-degrades, instead it breaks down into smaller, more easily ingestible pieces and eventually into microscopic pieces or toxic plastic dust

The charge on single-use carrier bags in Wales saw their use fall by between 70 and 96% in one year

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